High School Football: La Salle suits up against an adept opponent in Frankford

PHILADELPHIA — Back in 2008, La Salle High’s football team was sky high after defeating Father Judge, 28-20, in the Philadelphia Catholic League title game.

The win was particularly satisfying as it avenged a loss to the Crusaders suffered earlier in the season.

Perhaps still floating on cloud nine, the Explorers went into the City Title/District 12 championship game against George Washington the following week and came out on the short end of a 23-14 score, ending their season.

That was four seasons ago, but Explorers head coach Drew Gordon did not forget.

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So this week, after La Salle avenged an early-season loss to Saint Joseph’s Prep by defeating the Hawks in the PCL championship game, Gordon gave his team a history lesson.

La Salle (10-1) will meet Public League champion Frankford (8-2) Saturday (4:00) at Northeast High School for the Class AAAA city championship game and the District 12 Class AAAA title.

And Gordon made sure he emphasized he would not appreciate history repeating itself.

“When we lost to GW, the Catholic League championship was so critical at that time,” Gordon said. “And we came out the next week and were not ready to play.”

“I think, as a coaching staff, we all learned from that. We can’t let the emotion of (the Saint Joseph’s Prep) game get in the way this week. That was the first thing we addressed, and then we talked about the game plan.”

In Frankford, the Explorers are facing a dangerous team with a multitude of offensive weapons and outstanding speed.

Another trip to cloud nine could leave the Explorers deep-sixed.

This is not a replica of the Frankford teams that won six of 11 Public League titles between 1996-2006. But there is some pedigree. With 27 Public League titles in their long storied football history, the Pioneers are sort of the Pub’s answer to the New York Yankees or Montreal Canadiens.

“I’ve seen them on film,” Gordon said of the Pioneers, “and they’re a good team. Good speed, big up front and their quarterback is very good.”

The quarterback in question is Tim DiGiorgio (71-for-157, 1,187 yds., 9 TDs), who, this year, became just the third Public League signal-caller to go over 3,000 career passing yards. He anchors an offense that is equally effective riding his arm, or moving on the legs of running backs Damion Samuels (127 carries, 677 yds.) and Quinton Ellis (69 carries, 399 yds.).

And if Pioneers head coach Will Doggett has his way, Frankford will do plenty of both against the Explorers.

“We have to stay balanced,” Doggett said, “get the running game working and use play action off that. We have to be able to keep (La Salle) off-balance.”

“We have some speed, and we’d like to get the ball into the hands of those players. We’d like to keep their offense watching on the sidelines. We’d like some methodical drives.”

If Doggett gets his wish, Frankford will shorten the game and continually give the Explorers offense long fields to negotiate, although Doggett listed Samuels as questionable due to injury.

“You see a lot of Pro-I and twins and trips,” Gordon said of the Pioneers offense, “and they have a lot of speed in their backfield.”

“It’s not real fancy, but it’s effective.”

As for the Explorers, they’re more than capable of scoring in a hurry. Gordon said quarterback Chris Kane (139-for-225, 1,941 yds., 23 TDs), nursing a high ankle sprain over the past two games, is nearly 100 percent, although running back Jared Herrmann is still slowed by injury. With Kane and Herrmann at less than full strength in recent weeks, the team has turned to sophomore receiver Jimmy Herron (77 carries, 424 yds.) as the primary ball carrier in the wildcat formation.

Still, Doggett is leery of the Explorers quick-strike capability.

“Defensively, we have to stay at home and do our jobs,” the coach said. “And the most important thing is avoiding big plays.”

“La Salle does a great job of getting their athletes in space and forcing you to make one-on-one tackles. What we have to do is make those tackles. If they get first downs, fine, we just can’t let them get behind us.”

The formula for winning in this one is fairly simple. If the game is played in the 30s or 40s, the Explorers have a decided advantage. The Pioneers would like to keep the score low and the game close. Also, if the Pioneers commit more than two turnovers, they could be in for a long evening.

In search of their third straight City championship, the Explorers would prefer making history, not repeating it.